On 6 November 2020, the European Commission published an Interpretative Communication on the preparation, audit and publication of the financial statements included in the annual financial reports drawn-up in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/815 on the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) together with annexes.

The Interpretative Communication deals with the following questions:

  • Are statutory auditors required to provide an audit opinion on whether the financial statements included in the annual financial reports comply with the relevant statutory requirements laid down in the ESEF Regulation?
  • Which statutory requirements laid down in the ESEF Regulation should statutory auditors check compliance with in order to provide their audit opinion?
  • Shall the audit opinion on whether the financial statements comply with the relevant statutory requirements laid down in the ESEF Regulation be included in the audit report or in a separate report?
  • Are third-country issuers required to disclose an audit report that includes an audit opinion on whether the financial statements within the annual financial reports comply with the relevant statutory requirements laid down in the ESEF Regulation?
  • Shall issuers and/or statutory auditors use an electronic signature for signing the annual financial reports and/or the documents included therein and/or the audit reports, respectively?
  • Is the administrative, management or supervisory body of the issuer responsible for the compliance of the annual financial reports with the requirements of the ESEF Regulation?
  • Are issuers required to include in their annual financial report a responsibility statement regarding the compliance of the annual financial report with the ESEF Regulation?
  • Are issuers allowed to disclose additional versions of the annual financial report that are not ESEF-compliant and/or that include ESEF-compliant financial statements for which the ESEF compliance was not checked by the statutory auditors?
  • Are issuers allowed to file ESEF-compliant financial statements with the national business register in order to comply with the Accounting Directive publication rules?
  • Are the officially appointed mechanisms allowed to disseminate annual financial reports in formats other than ESEF?